Botany and Ormiston Times : Botany and Ormiston Times Thursday January 28 2016

Contents

www.times.co.nz
Botany and Ormiston Times, Thursday, January 28, 2016 — 9
Freehold Unit Title
Two Bedroom Apartments
Perfect For People Aged 60+
Freehold Retirement Living
in the heart of Pukekohe
If you are looking for a retirement living option you
are invited to come and look at our development at
102 to 104 Edinburgh St, Pukekohe.
Chrissie McKee on 021 469 946 bloomliving.co.nz
Apartments Now Complete
Display Apartment Open Wed, Thurs & Sat 11am to 2.30pm
For Howick Pakuranga Times - Attention Selina
SC3654
■■ By Marianne Kelly
Plans are underway to raise $3
million for construction of a
climate-controlled facility to house
the Howick Historical Village’s textile
collection and other artefacts.
Currently the delicate garments are
stored in boxes on the second floor of the
Puhunui Homestead and 15,000 other
items are in cupboards and drawers in
buildings around the village.
As well as providing more appropriate
storage, the facility will allow many of
the items to go on public display. Village
board chairman Max Heron says the new
facility will cover the rear car park and
the staff lunch room which is currently
covered by a tent.
Mayor Len Brown met with the village
board at the end of last year and says he
wants to see what role, if any, the council
could play and how he can co-ordinate
and support funding from other parties.
“ The village is funded by the [Howick]
Local Board through our budgets and
I want to see that lifeline continue,” he
says. “I’ve had a long association with the
village and I’m keen to see it flourish.”
He also wants RFA (Regional Facilities
Auckland) to look at ways of getting the
War Memorial Museum, MOTAT (Museum
of Transport and Technology) and the
Voyager NZ Maritime Museum into
discussion with the Howick village to see
how they can work collaboratively.
Currently, through the RFA, ratepayers
annually fund the War Memorial Museum,
MOTAT and the Maritime Museum.
But Howick’s heritage village is
dependent on funding from the Howick
Local Board’s pool and other grants.
The local board has allocated $8000 to
the village for foundation repair work
currently underway on the Puhunui
Homestead in its latest local grants
2015/2016 round.
Mr Heron says the village board
has raised $13,500 from Foundation
North (formerly the ASB Community
Trust) to rebuild Thomas Eckford’s Farm
Homestead.
“Getting money to rebuild facilities is
not the main problem because we can go
for grants,” Mr Heron says. “But we have
to cover operational costs. We have just
spent $32,000 on re-working the shell
footpaths and driveway which was partly
funded by the local board.
“ The balance comes from our own
funds that we raise,” Mr Heron says. “For
example about 400 people came to our
Halloween night and we raised $5000.”
Mr Brown says: “Sixty thousand people
visit the village a year. It’s a big operation.
“All the city’s museums are part of the
development of a new structure in one
united city so we should ensure there
is a link across the city between them.
They should be promoting themselves to
Aucklanders regionally and then to the
tourists.”
■➤ Howick Historical Village volunteer
Judy Wilson has written a book Out
of the Box which provides fascinating
detail about the garments in the village
textile collection and an historical
commentary about their origin. I t ’s
on sale at the village in Bell Road,
Pakuranga and costs $20.
■■ By Marianne Kelly
Auniversity student who
spent his childhood
years using the London
Underground rail system
is campaigning for a new
South-East Auckland light rail
line and he’s caught the ear of
Auckland Mayor Len Brown
and his transport advisers.
Nick Meyer, 18, of Botany
Downs, will meet with Mr
Brown on February 12 having
already run his ideas past Rory
Palmer, the council’s senior
adviser for mayoral initiatives.
“ The last major line
constructed in Auckland was
the North Auckland Line in
1868 which was completed in
1925,” Mr Meyer says. “So I am
proposing an East Auckland
Line. We’re paying the same
rates and the buses are good,
but they only get you so far. All
we are doing is adding buses
to crowded roads.”
Towards the end of last
year the Times reported that
Auckland Transport (AT) would
start discussions in February/
March on an AT proposal to
build light rail replacing buses
on the central city isthmus
with more than the 110 bus
limit already reached on
Symonds Street and Dominion
Road. r Brown told the Times
when he was the Manukau
Mayor in 2002, people laughed
when he envisaged a loop
from Manukau City down
Te Irirangi Drive, Cascades
Road, Aviemore Drive and
along Pakuranga Road to the
Panmure rail station.
With 60,000 extra people
expected to move into the Flat
Bush/Ormiston area, the bus
limit on Te Irirangi Drive could
be reached in 10 years.
“We will see a busway there
for a start and when maximum
patronage is reached we’ll
have the same debate as we
are having for the isthmus
now,” he said.
Mr Meyer says he will ask the
mayor why money for busways
could not be reallocated now
for light rail. hen Mr Meyer was
eight, he was living in London
and was a regular passenger
on the iconic London
Underground rail system.
“I developed a real passion
for trains and the convenience
of rail transport,” he says.”Ever
since I got back to Auckland
10 years ago I have been
very disappointed in the rail
network in Auckland, mainly
because the coverage does
not extend to Howick, Botany
and Pakuranga.”
Now he is an AUT student,
often travelling from Auckland
Central to Panmure by train
and transferring to a bus.
“It would be so useful if
people didn’t have to change
to get on a bus,” he says. “I have
noticed that the bus is often
packed to Panmure and then it
empties out. It is clear people
would rather take the train.”
Mr Meyer is studying for
a Bachelor of Computer
Information Science (BCIS)
at AUT and last September
found some available time to
work on his rail project. He ran
his ideas past Mr Palmer on
September 24 and launched
his rail route on Facebook
which has attracted 517 ‘likes’.
Mr Meyer’s original proposal
can be viewed at www.
facebook.com/EastRailAkl.
■➤ Tell us what you think
about rail to the south-east
– email mariannek@times.
co.nz
Nick Meyer is taking his ideas for
a south-east rail service to City
Hall.
Times photo Marianne Kelly
South-east rail
service mooted
Funding plan to store
precious garments
Budget meetings
Two public meetings will be held to canvass opinion on the
proposed Auckland Council Annual Plan 2016/2017.
The plan includes the council’s proposed budget for the
next financial year and local board priorities. The annual
budget covers the second year of the current Long-term
Plan, and contains $1.9 billion of investment in new assets
as well as $3.7 billion to pay for the day-to-day services the
council provides.
The budget will also set the level of rates for 2016/2017.
Consultation has opened and runs until March 15. More
information is at www.shapeauckland.co.nz.
■➤ Public meetings will be held at 6.30-8.30pm on
February 25 at Ormiston Senior College, 275 Ormiston
Road, Flat Bush, and at 6.30-8.30pm on March 1 at
Pakuranga Rugby Club, 78 Bells Road, Pakuranga.
Some delicate garments were made available for a documentary on the textile collection.
Times photo Wayne Martin